Portland’s Charter Schools

A tuition-free K–12 public charter built for homeschooling families, with curriculum funds, certified-teacher support, and a flexible mix of home and on-campus learning.

Tuition-free K–5 Spanish immersion charter that opens at 90% Spanish and moves toward a balanced bilingual model by upper elementary, with Singapore Math and NGSS science both taught in Spanish. Admission is by independent lottery with priority for siblings and Beaverton district residents, and a second campus is planned for Tigard opening K–2 and adding a grade each year.

Cascade Heights' defining feature is its adherence to the Core Knowledge Sequence, a highly specific, content-rich curriculum where students study distinct historical events, scientific concepts, and literature at precise grade levels to prevent knowledge gaps.

A half-day public charter where 11th and 12th graders dive into hands-on Career & Technical Education — engineering, computer science, and industry-partnered pathways — alongside their home high school. A pure maker's program.

A tuition-free PK–8 charter following the EL Education (Expeditionary Learning) model — learning organized around real-world, project-based expeditions.

An accelerated public charter where motivated students split their week between campus and Clackamas Community College, graduating with an average of 65 college credits, about 1.5 years of a degree, alongside a 96% 4-year graduation rate.

An online K-12 public charter, so students enroll full-time with CWA teachers, CWA coursework, and in-house special education and ELD support. On-site art and Spanish are optional for K-8, and high schoolers can take electives at Clackamas Community College through Early College Options, which carries a $1,000 per year tuition benefit.

David Douglas Arthur Academy uses Direct Instruction, a structured mastery-learning model where reading, math, spelling, and language are taught through highly scripted, incremental lessons with frequent assessment.

HOLLA School is a tuition-free public charter in the Reynolds School District, created to “change the academic narratives” of Black, Brown, and Indigenous children through culturally responsive teaching and tight family partnership.

Tuition-free K–8 Chinese immersion charter with a model that shifts by grade band: 65% Chinese in K–2, an even split in grades 3–5, and 35% in middle school as students prepare for high school. Chinese and English teachers pair to synchronize lessons against ACTFL standards, Chinese-speaking staff work the front desk and lunch service, and the 2023-24 4th grade cohort ranked 1st statewide in both ELA and math.

KairosPDX weaves culturally responsive teaching into a curriculum designed to close opportunity gaps and foster joyful learning.

Tuition-free K–8 French immersion charter and IB Primary Years Programme school, with 80% of the day in French through 4th grade and Singapore Math throughout. Admission is by an independent blind lottery outside the PPS ranked choice system, with no preference for fluency or heritage speakers, and Spanish joins as a third language in 3rd grade.

Oregon's largest public Montessori charter (K-8), with AMI-trained guides, multi-age classrooms across 3 Gresham campuses, and a 4-day school week. Middle schoolers run a working greenhouse, go on multi-day expeditions, and operate a student micro-economy; younger students learn through long, uninterrupted work cycles and daily neighborhood walks to parks and the library.

An online K-12 public charter where students enroll full-time and work at their own pace through Canvas coursework taught by Metro East teachers, with optional in-person support labs 4 days a week at the Gresham hub. High schoolers can add credit recovery, a GED track, or Early College at MHCC or PCC, earning up to 78 college credits before graduating.

A tuition-free 9–12 arts academy embedded inside Milwaukie High School, where every core class is taught through an arts lens to a small cohort of roughly 270 students, while the full MHS elective and athletics menu stays open. An updated arts center anchors the campus with a 500-seat auditorium, black box theatre, dance room, ceramics studio, and band/orchestra space.

MLA operates an elementary campus in Fairview and a middle-grade campus in Troutdale (both running on a 4-day M-TH week) offering a K–8 charter pathway that emphasizes Education for All, teaching to multiple learning modes, visual, auditory, and kinesthetic, and tailoring instruction to how individual students learn.

Portland Arthur Academy is a public charter school that delivers direct-instruction reading and math in a structured, sequential format, using the Reading Mastery phonics program for literacy and Connecting Math Concepts (CMC) for math.

A tuition-free Waldorf K–8 where subjects are taught in 3 to 4 week blocks instead of daily periods. Students knit, sew, and learn woodworking, study Spanish from 1st grade, and go outside twice a day plus a weekly hour of park play. No screens in the early grades and a junk-food-free campus.

Rockwood Preparatory Academy (RPA) is a tuition-free public charter serving K–5, chartered through Reynolds School District and operated by KNOVA Learning.

A tuition-free K–8 charter built on place-based education — the island's farms, river, and wildlife refuge become the project-based classroom. Campus also includes a STEAM Lab where every students gets guaranteed time to bring projects from design to real world building.

Sherwood Charter School's defining feature is integrated thematic instruction.

A tuition-free K–8 charter using place-based, project-based learning anchored in environmental science, outdoor fieldwork, and school gardens.

A virtual academy where parents teach K–5 core subjects 3–5 hours a day as Learning Coaches, backed by a homeroom teacher, a $1,000 curriculum budget, and optional Tuesday/Thursday campus days in Eagle Creek; grades 6–12 shift to a 200-course virtual academy with an Early College track.

A tuition-free K–8 charter built on place-based learning. Each trimester is one integrated project on a Portland social studies or science theme, taught through social-justice and eco-justice lenses.

A tuition-free K–5 PPS charter centered on the Project Approach — multi-age K/1, 2/3, and 4/5 classes run long investigations of real-world topics, with regular field studies on foot and by transit.

Tuition-free public Montessori for K–8 in North Portland: 3-year multi-age classrooms with 1 lead and 1 assistant, middle schoolers in a 2-teacher humanities and math cohort, and an anti-bias stance the school funds and names.

A tuition-free 4–8 charter where students pick a topic for a term-long Independent Projects, grades mix, and every teacher works with every student.